Overview
- The state government announced on Tuesday, August 25 that it has withdrawn the August 14 Government Resolution for tribal hostels and removed the 30‑year age cap for admissions.
- Protesting tribal college students in Pune have kept a hunger strike going into its 15th day and refuse to end it without a formal written order that accepts their demands.
- Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uike met student representatives and gave verbal assurances on several measures, including building a hostel at Savitribai Phule Pune University, tighter caste‑validity checks and talks about DBT meal payments, but officials have not issued the written guarantees students demand.
- Students’ core demands include immediate filling of about 12,500 vacant tribal‑department posts, stronger safety and medical measures for hostels and ashram schools, inflation‑linked allowances, and ₹1 crore compensation for families of girls who died in the Gadchiroli snakebite incident.
- The dispute has gained political attention after Rahul Gandhi raised students’ complaints in a letter to the chief minister and opposition leaders have threatened to press for ministerial accountability, while the tribal ministry has denied claims that female students were subjected to mandatory pregnancy tests.